A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt • Hacker News Board

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#171

Post by voidmain0001 » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:21 AM UTC

acct1771 wrote: post #148

kccqzy wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you taken a look at a Tesla car yet? From PR materials I'm led to believe that they treat their car software seriously. I doubt one can install untrusted firmware on a Tesla car; is that so?

Stripping or modding a Tesla would be the only way I'd get one...and I'd really like to. Very interested in what happens in this thread.

A Motherboard article appeared on HN about a rogue Tesla mechanic. Here is his channel to help you get started: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCfV0_wbjG8KJADuZT2ct4SA#

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#172

Post by jiveturkey » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:26 AM UTC

drglitch wrote: post #122

jiveturkey wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not entirely. Please give me the instructions on how to opt out. Whenever someone asks (which is rare), the forums are filled with replies like "why would you not want BMW to monitor you? are you a fraudster?" IOW the forums do not know how to opt out either. Everytime I take my 2016 in to service, I ask both sales and service to disable teleservices. They say they cannot. I then call BMW teleservices (every time…

There are three components to my knowledge. below is my anecdotal knowledge so pls verify if needed :) - remote car monitoring/bmw connected app. this can be tweaked (its off by default) via idrive. I believe there is also some anonymized sharing with "parknow" and real time traffic apps. - maintenance notifications. this is on by default and can be disabled in bmw's new "my car" website. They also send you a postcar…

> If BMW ever shares the location data with third parties other than police, I would have major issues with all of this.

By that time it would be too late. And the problem with privacy-related info (like location history) is that once revealed, it can’t be re-secured. So the only proper fix is to not collect it in the first place.

Also BMW is a car company. Consumer data protection is not their core competency. Then info may not be intentionally revealed. A rogue employee may decide to listen in (as in OnStar case). We can’t know what controls they have in place to mitigate risk. Since I obtain almost no value I want to be able to opt out. That they make this difficult is so aggravating. But I love their cars. I wish I could quit you BMW.

I wonder if GDPR is a factor for new car sales. In fact maybe that’s why you got a big packet and had to opt in, and back in 2016 it was instead quite impossible to opt out.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#173

Post by chrischen » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:30 AM UTC

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to do a sting.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#174

Post by chrischen » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:34 AM UTC

ironjunkie wrote: post #36

Why did they not park the car back and wait with the police on call in order to catch the thieves that would have come back the next night?

You'd have to get the Japanese police involved.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2017/05/18/as-crime-dries-up-...

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#175

Post by nodesocket » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:34 AM UTC

avar wrote: post #27

Reading this article is honestly a bit of a domestic culture shock for me, where does this guy live in The Netherlands? Here in downtown Amsterdam we called the police because the rear window of someone's car had just been smashed outside our office, and the police's response was "Has anyone been hurt? Nope? Then we're not coming". Meanwhile, wherever this guy lives they're sending officers because some BMW call cent…

> "Has anyone been hurt? Nope? Then we're not coming".

Sounds like San Francisco as well. Petty crime and theft go uninvestigated and run rampant.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#176

Post by slededit » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:46 AM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #6

The thieves would have been wiser to take something, anything to make the narrative of the original break in more believable. They didn't sell the narrative well enough, which left people curious.

The cops probably scared them away while they were in the act.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#177

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 2:57 AM UTC

endless1234 wrote: post #97

avar wrote: post #27

Reading this article is honestly a bit of a domestic culture shock for me, where does this guy live in The Netherlands? Here in downtown Amsterdam we called the police because the rear window of someone's car had just been smashed outside our office, and the police's response was "Has anyone been hurt? Nope? Then we're not coming". Meanwhile, wherever this guy lives they're sending officers because some BMW call cent…

Why should the police be sent to a smashed window? Not much they can do at that point unless you caught somebody red-handed. "Yup, that window is totally smashed. OK, just file a claim with your insurance company."

[deleted]

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#178

Post by TheCowboy » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 3:05 AM UTC

Nasrudith wrote: post #100

mabbo wrote: post #6

The thieves would have been wiser to take something, anything to make the narrative of the original break in more believable. They didn't sell the narrative well enough, which left people curious.

I wonder why they bothered with the smash - broken glass would make people take their car to a dealer. Just the "failed jimmying" might have gone if not unnoticed as a police issue procrastinated in fixing. Maybe they were just frustrated auto thieves.

  The other one was an air pressure sensor, used for 
  detecting sudden changes in air pressure. This is the
  sensor that will, among other things, detect a broken window.

Might be related to tripping this sensor in advance.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#179

Post by King-Aaron » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 3:06 AM UTC

Rjevski wrote: post #101

I used to fix cars for a living. Sometimes it involved “cracking” alarm & immobiliser systems. My clients all claimed they broke/lost their keys to their car - most of the time they were believable (car stuck in front of their driveway, etc). Sometimes less so, but I’d do it anyway because I needed the money and I had no proof of the contrary (innocent until proven guilty right?), although given the sad conditions of…

I just unclip my steering wheel, and pull out my main relay (dash mounted, race car spec). I don't think the car is going very far without those.

Re: A Dutch first: Ingenious BMW theft attempt

#180

Post by purpleidea » Fri, Aug 10, 2018, 3:22 AM UTC

The smart thing to do would have been to leave your car outside again, and have the police hidden down the street, so when they returned they could catch the crooks!